"So what's so different about the circ.u.mstances now?"

"The cards just ain't fallin' in her favor, Row."

"Last I recall you had nothing other than circ.u.mstantial evidence at best."

"I'm afraid it's gotten a little more complicated."

"Complicated how?"

"I can't really get into it, Row."

"d.a.m.n you, Ben," I spat in a low voice. "Don't keep doing this. You can't dangle that s.h.i.t in front of me then clam up all over again. Tell me what's going on."

He looked at me with a pained expression that definitely wasn't a by-product of the ache in his jaw and then reached up with his free hand to rub his neck.

"What the h.e.l.l," he muttered. "They've prob'ly hit 'er with it by now anyway. The hair samples from the scenes matched with..."

I immediately cut him off, countering what he was going to say. "...I already told you there's a logical explanation for that."

"Let me finish..." he held out his hand to stop me. "They didn't just match the samples from the two scenes here. They also measured up with hairs lifted from a homicide in Myrtle Beach that happened around a year ago."

Now I knew what the evidence was Jackie had mentioned earlier.

I offered a cold reb.u.t.tal. "A couple of hairs aren't conclusive, Ben. Even I know that. So does your crime lab. That's thin and they know it."

"You're right, they aren't," he agreed. "As far as just comparison goes. But when ya' combine 'em with a DNA match, they suddenly take on a lot more weight."

"So, you're telling me Felicity's DNA matches to evidence found at a crime scene in South Carolina?"

"And the two homicides here. Yeah, I'm afraid so. That's the word anyway."

"That's ludicrous."

"Maybe so, but from what I'm hearin' it's still a fact."

I shook my head and stated flatly, "Well, there's a simple explanation for that too. It's a mistake."

"I wish it was, Row. But, I asked around. After they ran the two here, they sent samples to Washington. What I got told was the Feebs ran 'em three times. Plus, they got the sample direct from Myrtle Beach and ran that comparison, not us."

"I don't care," I spat. "They're still wrong."

"Look, Rowan, I don't wanna believe it either."

"Then don't."

He sighed and cleared his throat then sat back against the seat in the booth, regarding me silently. He tossed the ice pack onto the table then gingerly pressed his fingers along his jaw line, wincing slightly but remaining silent.

"She didn't do it, Ben," I appealed once more.

"Okay, Row," he spread his hands out in front of him in mock surrender. "Who did then?"

"I don't know, but I'm d.a.m.n sure going to find out."

"How?"

"To start with, I'm going to track down a Lwa."

"Row..." he shook his head. "Listen, I know you're convinced this evil spirit Voodoo thing has got somethin' to do with this..."

"And you aren't?"

"I dunno. Not quite like you are, I don't think."

"Well, were there signs of a Voodoo ritual at the crime scene in Myrtle Beach?" I demanded.

Based on my earlier conversation with the young woman at the university in Louisiana, I knew it was a safe bet his answer would be yes. Still, I didn't want to show my hand just yet. I needed for him to tell me himself.

"That's not the point, Row..."

"There were, weren't there?"

"Yeah, there was, but so what? They're just gonna say that connects it with the Hobbes murder here. And that's not ta' mention the fact that there was plenty of evidence that the whole kinky s.e.x thing was involved."

"It does connect them, Ben," I replied. "But, you've still got the wrong woman. I don't know how many times I have to say it-Felicity did NOT do this."

"Row, are you forgettin' what she did to that a.s.shole she picked up in the club?"

"She didn't kill him."

"Yeah, well she d.a.m.n near did."

"She was possessed at the time. You know that."

"I know you keep sayin' it, but dammit, Row, it doesn't make it true."

"So now you're calling me a liar?"

"No, what I'm really tryin' ta' say is so what? I wanna believe ya', but come on...how're ya' gonna prove she was possessed?"

"Like I said, by finding the Lwa."

"And then what? You gonna have a nice chat with it and convince it to confess? Somethin' tells me even you ain't that good at the hocus-pocus, Kemosabe."

"This Lwa is either a personal ancestor or someone who ended up on an altar by mistake, Ben. If I can track down the Lwa, then I've tracked down the real killer."

"Do I hafta remind you that we can't arrest an evil spirit? Not to mention that you're never gonna get a court ta' listen to ya' with a story like that."

"I don't mean the spirit itself. What I'm saying is the Lwa needs a corporeal being in order to manifest physical actions on this plane."

"Do what?"

"It needs a body. It has to possess someone in order to commit the murders."

"Yeah, well, I hate ta' tell ya' this but you just got finished tellin' me that it possessed Firehair. Ain't ya' kinda diggin' your own hole for her with that approach?"

"Hers was a collateral possession, Ben. Felicity doesn't practice Voodoo. h.e.l.l, she doesn't know any more about it than I did when this all started. No...this Lwa is sitting on an altar somewhere, and the pract.i.tioner who belongs to it is your killer."

"That's a great theory, Row, even if it is all Twilight Zone and s.h.i.t...but, even if ya' could get a judge ta' listen to ya', you're still forgettin' one thing."

"What?"

"The DNA. It's the smokin' gun that puts Firehair at all three scenes. I dunno how you're gonna get around that, even if ya' do find this whacked out ghost you're chasin'."

"I still say they're wrong, Ben," I insisted.

"Row, I told ya' they ran it three times."

"So maybe they got the samples mixed up."

"That's not real likely."

"Maybe not, but it's possible."

"Yeah, well anything's possible, but you're grabbin' at straws here."

"Well, the only other explanation is that someone purposely tampered with the evidence."

"Actually, the other explanation is that she's..."

"Don't say it," I snarled.

"But..."

"I said, DON'T SAY IT."

"Yeah fine... So, what you're tryin' ta' say is that...well...'you know who' is the one who did this?" He deliberately used the verbal evasion in place of Albright's name. Considering the location, and recent shifts within the department, he couldn't really be sure about the exact loyalties of all of the other cops in the diner. An outright mention of her wasn't what you could term a stellar idea; of course, anyone who might be listening and knew my history could have figured out exactly whom he meant.

The truth was, Ben had already taken a huge risk simply by being seen talking to me at such length. Once word made it up the chain of command, he was probably going to have h.e.l.l to pay, especially considering that I now suspected he had done more than just call in markers to keep himself involved in this case. In fact, he probably owed more favors than I wanted to know about.

"Can you think of anyone else with a reason?" I asked.

"Jeez, Row, I know you two are at odds, but to go so far as to frame Felicity?" He shook his head. "That's pushin' a whole 'nother envelope."

"Are you forgetting she tried to use me as bait for Eldon Porter? And, as I recall she was actually overheard saying that if I got killed in the process...what was it? Something like, too bad, so sad?"

"Yeah, but she had a way outta that. She could get caught real easy if she tampered with evidence. Besides, like I said, there were tests done at the Feeb's lab in DC anyway."

"So? The evidence still originated here."

"Yeah, but not the evidence from Myrtle Beach," he reminded me. "It went from them to DC. Never even saw Saint Louis, much less her."

"Speaking of Myrtle Beach, how did that even get into the mix to begin with?"

"NCIC hit," he explained. "The bondage aspect along with the ritual stuff. When our two homicides got entered into the computer, that's what got spit back out."

"Great."

"Yeah, well, I didn't wanna tell ya' this, but you're prob'ly gonna find out sooner or later. The homicide in South Carolina wasn't the only hit."

"What are you saying?" I knew full well what he had just implied, but I couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth.

"NCIC returned seven other unresolved cases in various states that have similar characteristics, datin' back as far as oh-three. The kinky s.h.i.t, the mutilation, and in a couple of 'em some of the Voodoo stuff..." He allowed his voice to trail off as he ran through the list.

"Are they trying to say Felicity committed all of these murders?"

He nodded. "They're definitely lookin' into it. Right now Myrtle Beach is the only department to provide physical evidence that links. That, and they can positively place her there in the city at the time of the murder from the subpoenaed airline records."

"Dammit..." I muttered.

"Just so ya' know, they're followin' up on all her travelin'. Even if they don't get any more matches with physical evidence from the other states, if they can show that she was in those cities around the times of the other murders...Well, circ.u.mstantial or not, put it together with what they already got, an' it's gonna make a major impression on a jury... And, it ain't gonna be a good one, Row."

I pondered what he had just said and felt my blood run cold. Instead of getting answers that would help me clear Felicity, I was just getting more and more signs pointing directly to her guilt. However, they were all detours I didn't intend to follow. I knew my wife was innocent; I just had to prove it to everyone else. Given what Ben had told me over the past few minutes, it was obvious that I needed to do so very soon.

"You know that question you asked me earlier?" I finally asked.

"Which one?" he grunted.

"About if I was feeling better," I replied.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, I thought about it and right now I want to hit you again."

CHAPTER 12:.

Intent and want can be very fickle concepts. More often than not, they are two completely different things, even though we might try to convince ourselves they are one and the same. This is true for both the practice of magick and everyday, mundane life as well. Right now just happened to be one of those cla.s.sic instances of diametric opposition.

Put plainly and simply as possible, no matter what I had just said, I really had no intention of taking another poke at Ben. He knew that, and so did I. In fact, I'm fairly sure my fist couldn't have handled it anyway, so the verbal jab would simply have to suffice.

On the other hand, want is a very strong emotion in and of itself. Considering that I felt like the man whom I had long called my friend was still at odds with me and wasn't listening to reason, I definitely wanted to gift him with a black eye to go with the welt on his jaw.